A Memory Lingered
by Atlashon
Summary: A tale of strange Eldar-Human encounter.


_(A/N: Okay dont go crazy 'F*** LCB! OMG! NOO!' on me. _

_The point of this story wasn't love or to show origins of a hybrid but to give the feeling of vastness of the 40k's Milky Way Galaxy.. The hybrid theme came from this thread i stumbled upon and I just thought it was interesting : P Read and review please.)_

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The stem was stern and rigid from the frost, and it would not give way no matter how heavy his swing was. But it had to come out today and before morning too.

"Greetings, Mon... Human." The voice came from nowhere, and although only few words were spoken; it was swift, melodious and seductive all in itself.

The source of this symphony of words was just what he had suspected. A tall woman white as snow that fell around him and lips as red as the blood that came from blisters on his hands. The hair? The hair was redder than the deepest shade of red. He looked up briefly to acknowledge her presence but got back to work, with a shake of his head.

A few seasons prior, a group of strange man-like creatures descended from the sky in these oddly shaped flying contraptions and settled near the village. When the panic struck local folks, the village elders decided to meet these people and make their intentions known. Eventually, the elders invited them to the Village Hall and discussed terms with them. But these sky-creatures were said to be even friendlier than hoped for and expressed their desires to "inter-mingle" with us. None saw any harm in this and all the involved parties accepted each other's' conditions. Things got strange from there on in.

It was cold and he needed that pesky stem out of the field so he could start ploughing it and sow something in it. Their boryx, a native six-legged beast, just gave birth to a calf so now he could finally start working on his barren fields.  
He swung the axe plunging it deep into the resilient wood once more. As he tried to pull it back out he spoke," I know.." a grunt in between,"... why you are here, miss." Finally freeing the damned thing. He raised his head to hers, "I am sorry to say this but I am not interested."

**Swing.**

_I have more important matters to take care of than nibbling on pointed ears._

"I see, May I ask why? Am I not...", taking a moment to continue again,"..adequate?"

This made him chortle.

"Oh no miss, nothing like that its just that I am promised to Mahd's daughter", She seemed confused "He is this rich farmer, owns all the land over at the Rohtas side of the river", Another swing blew some chips onto his face.  
"Yeah, just before the pass up there, you see", he pointed with a jerk of his head as he wiped his face with his arm. The look on her face did not improve.

He stared her with raised eye-brows and a silly smile for a few minutes to get some feedback but nothing happened. Then suddenly breaking the silence,"Look miss, there are plenty of young folks in the village and believe me when I tell you, them boys will be knocking each other silly just to have a look at you." He laughed inwardly as he spoke the words.

He thought his logic perfect; as he continued axing away on the stock, chips flying with every other swing but no serious harm was being inflicted on the wood. Yes, it was perfect until she spoke,

"I have been observing you, human. Watching as you work day and night to tame this barren land you call your own. I see you tending to your beast with the care of Mother Asha herself. I have seen a Son of Asuryan imprisoned inside a Mon-keigh body."

He was taken aback. All those words flowed through his coarse ears like water flows through a clear stream. The shock was so that the astonishment overlapped the previous expressions which had not left his face yet. In simpler words, he was half-smiling with his mouth open and eyes widened.

"Um.. I.. uh.. I am going to pretend that I understood whatever you just said back there but am I to understand you took some sort of a liking to me?" the inquisitive element was predominant in the sentence. He always knew he had a nice enough face and a good head of hair. He was not very tall but not too short either. He was just an average young adult Pindian man. But a "Sky-Goddess" taking a liking to him was something he would have never imagined. He had heard rumors and claims of people having intercourse with these "divine beauties" from the skies, but he had never heard something like this.

"I have. My kin deem me young and naive but I know what I feel. I know this." Her responses were becoming harder and harder to interpret. He was at a loss of words. Fog from their mouths further floundering the already awkward situation. The silence was almost too silent. No gusts of air, no cries of boryx, no nothing.

**A thud of the door.**

_Finally!_

"SAEL!", a childish shout invaded his ears.

"YEAH?", he replied with the same loudness staring the woman all the while.

"THE BREAKFAST IS READY!", the voice was coming from a child standing 30 or so yards away. A girl, in fact. She was his sister.

"Would you like to join us for breakfast?" he truly wanted her to join them.

"I am unsure if I should.."

"Listen miss, if I would've said yes, did you really think we would've done it here on this stump?" Both of them laughed a little "Come on, my sister makes great tea." He was very persistent and that smile added to the effect.

"WHO'S IS THAT YOU'VE GOT THERE , SAEL?" she screamed at the top of her lungs; with one hand on her hip and the other shading her eyes from the now dawned blue sun.

"ZOYA, SET UP THE TABLE FOR THREE AND USE THOSE GLASS PLATES I BOUGHT YOU THE OTHER DAY!" he turned back to the slender framed beauty just to realize he yelled out that whole sentence. Giving her an embarrassing smile he continued,  
"Forgive my crude farmer manners, sadly my father met the gods too early to teach me any propriety." The response was a sweet half-smile.

Sael planted the axe firmly into the wooden stem with one last swing and dusted off his hands. Gesturing her to follow him he walked on towards the house. Strangely enough, he could not hear her footsteps at all so he looked back more than several times to see if she was even there. And every time she was there walking flawlessly; following him. The terrain was not easy to tread upon either; the softened and uneven-ed soil made it hard to traverse and the rounded stones certainly did not help the cause. So one had to always look at his feet when in these fields and even then could not walk without stumbling a time or two.  
She, however, just looked straight and walked as if her feet never even touched the ground. It made him feel exhilarated and intimidated at the same time.

As soon as they reached the house, Sael opened the door and welcomed her inside "Welcome to my humble abode!" he sounded merrier than usual.

His gaze followed the woman and, inevitably, as the kitchen came into focus the perplexed face of his sibling brought about a sudden realization," Oh yes, sorry. This is my sister Zoya and Zoya this here is..uh.."

_You didn't ask her, her name! You damned fool!_

"I didn't catch your name, miss."

"I am Adriana Illiyan, of the Craftworld Ulthwe" Her voice pleasant than ever ".. And I already know both of you very well, Sael and Zoya Mozart."

Zoya shot over an inquisitive look to Sael and he just replied with a shrug and an elongated face, clearly expressing his obliviousness to her words. They had no idea what she meant by, _a crafting world? or was it craftworld?_

"You are one of the Asrai, right? Rhea is always talking about how beautiful you people are and how your skin shines in the dark and..." Zoya's utterances were picking up the pace and soon she was ranting.

"Asrai?" Adriana interrupted.

"Yes, that is what your people are called, aren't they? By the gods if I had clothes like yours I'd wear them all the time. No, I won't because that would ruin them, won't it? How do you wash them again? The gems come out first or..." Sael buried his face in his palm and Adriana just chuckled,

"No, child. We are not 'Asrai' we are called the 'Eldar' by your kind." she ignored her irrelevant questions. "Child? How old are you anyway?" Sael asked, the surprises just kept on coming for him. Zoya was only fifteen and yet Adriana seemed the same age as her's.

"By your world, I have lived more than a century yet I am considered a child amongst my own. We live for eternity, you see." Sael was now staring at her with his mouth agape.

His trance finally broke when he grew conscious of the fact that everyone was still standing, "Apologies once again, sit please." He pulled her a chair and then went on to sit next to Zoya.  
Zoya started the conversation, "Those are Murgil eggs there, I baked and spiced them myself and this is water, we humans cannot live without it."

"Zoya, please, for the love of all the river gods, stop talking." Adriana could not help but smile and Zoya gestured an 'okay! okay!' putting her hands up in surrender.

Only one or two sips of tea and Zoya spoke again, "I couldn't help but notice, apart from that gorgeous skin, what are you doing at this lonely old farm anyway?" she sipped some more tea in.

Sael closed his eyes, sunk his head and fought a battle to keep from smiling, failing miserably, and grinning ear to ear instead. He knew what happens when Zoya hears what she should not.

_I would never hear the end of this._

"I expressed my wish of mating with your brother." She really was forthright.

Zoya sprayed out all the tea in her mouth onto the table, "WHAT!?"

"Calm down! Nothing happened." Sael tried knowing all too well it was futile.

"But Mahd.. You.. My wedding... I... can't... breathe..." Zoya was hyper-ventilating, again. Sael hurried over to her,"Zoya, nothing is gonna happen... Listen to me you have to breathe... yes, breathe" she was trying but the air was barely entering her passages. "That's it, just breathe" he elongated the utterance of the last word.

"Is she fine?" Adriana asked with genuine concern. "Yes yes, she is fine actually my betrothal guarantees her betrothal to Mahd's son" he paused before continuing again, "That's why she got a little... excited." He was rubbing Zoya's back gently.

"Maybe I should leave." She said. "You really don't have to leave, Miss Illiyan." he felt bad.

_Gods damn you Zoya! You made her feel guilty._

"It is not that, it is merely time for me to head back to the settlement. I have other responsibilities to take care of."

Sael did not say those words aloud, he was sure.

_Did she just read my... Never mind._

"It was a pleasure dining with you Sael, and you too Zoya." Zoya nodded silently.

The Eldar stood up and walked to the door,"Farewell, Sael."

"Goodbye, Miss. Illiyan" and Adriana walked out of the house.

After she had gone Sael looked angrily at Zoya,"You are the worst host in the world."

"If you haven't noticed, that wasn't just one of our regular average guests there, Sael" she spat and pushed him away.

A sudden sound of something being ripped apart from the ground grabbed their attention. Sael ran over to the door just to see, Adriana's reassuring smile and that god-forsaken tree stump rooted out of the ground.  
And with that same warm smile, she was gone. Leaving the family with the memories that would last many seasons to come.


End file.
